World Chess Day
Next: July 20, 2027
Your move.
The story
Where it comes from
World Chess Day marks the founding of FIDE, the International Chess Federation, in Paris on 20 July 1924. On FIDE's initiative, chess players around the world have kept the date as International Chess Day since 1966. On 12 December 2019 the UN General Assembly, at Armenia's initiative and with 53 countries as co-sponsors, proclaimed 20 July World Chess Day. The resolution recognises chess as a game that promotes fairness, inclusion and mutual respect, and that can help education, the empowerment of women and girls, and understanding between peoples.
How it's celebrated
The UN invites countries, organisations and individuals to mark the day and to share the benefits of chess through teaching and public events, and chess federations, clubs and schools around the world join in. It is the perfect excuse to set up a board with a friend, play a game online, or show someone new how the knight moves.
Did you know
- The oldest known ancestor of chess is chaturanga, which was flourishing in northwestern India by the 7th century and already had pieces with different powers and a king to protect.
- Armenia, which proposed the UN day, teaches chess as a school subject and has one of the highest numbers of grandmasters per person in the world.
- In December 2024, at a match in Singapore, 18-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju of India beat China's Ding Liren to become the youngest world champion in the game's history.
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